Remember Trump’s ominous warnings about what would happen if Putin wouldn’t play ball? Shortly after Trump and other NATO allies reportedly lifted long-range strike restrictions on supplied weapons, Ukraine carried out a massive drone attack against multiple Russian airbases that reportedly took out 40 Russian aircraft, most of which were bombers.
Ukraine’s secret service (SBU) has claimed responsibility for a major drone strike on multiple Russian airfields overnight, saying it has damaged or destroyed more than 40 military aircraft used to bomb Ukrainian cities.
The SBU said “Operation Spiderweb” — described as one of the largest and most ambitious of the war — specifically targeted long-range bombers believed to be responsible for regular missile strikes on civilian areas.
The aircraft hit reportedly includes the A-50 radar surveillance plane, as well as Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 strategic bombers — key to Russia’s air assault operations.
The A-50 is Russia’s answer to AWACS, and taking out this one is huge, as it was reportedly the last one Russia had flying.
Ukrainian officials claim the Russian military has suffered damage worth more than $2 billion (£1.4 billion) as a result of the strikes. “Russian airfields are burning,” they said.
It follows earlier Ukrainian statements that their drones had struck Belaya airbase in Irkutsk, deep inside Siberia, and Olenya airbase near Murmansk in the north-west. Footage released by the SBU appeared to show plumes of smoke and explosions around parked aircraft.
Suchomimus has a video up on the strike:
“40 Russian aircraft, mainly bombers, have been destroyed in one fell swoop.”
“I’m going to say this is the biggest and best strike of the war, maybe one of the biggest and best, Maybe one of the biggest and best military operations of all time.”
40 is a preliminary number and may go up.
“It’s mainly bombers, but also some transporters hit.”
It targeted “Russia’s strategic bomber fleet, which Russia uses to carry out long range missile attacks hitting Ukrainian cities constantly.”
“Ukrainian FPV drones were hidden in false cargo containers launched near the Russian airfields, and pretty much swarm them, and caught Russia with its keks down.” Keks are northern UK slang for pants.
“So Ukraine somehow managed to get UAVs into cargo containers on lorries, transported them near the Russian air bases, and launched them, on mass, to swarm the bases before the bombers could take off.”
They hit Olenya base in “Russia’s north near Finland, over 1,700km to the border with Ukraine.”
They also hit a Russian submarine base in Severomorsk, Murmansk Oblast, in the same general area.
“The 222M [is] a big one. Russia has just 56 in service, and the type is not under production anymore. It’s also possible that not all of these 56 are airworthy. We don’t have total numbers yet, but we have to assume, since bases operating these are hit, the significant number of the 222 M fleet is now gone.”
Tu-95: “47 of these were in service, and again, it isn’t under production anymore, so they can’t be replaced, and we saw some burning, so a big chunk of these are, again, gone.”
Tu-160 (AKA Russia’s B1): “10 of these are in service, but 40 on order so these are still under production, and possibly can be replaced. But still, the loss of these has to sting.” Wikipedia has a higher number of 32 production planes, though that number is outsourced. Supposedly four were manufactured in 2023, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the actual number was zero due lack of advanced avionics parts.
“Russia’s going to struggle to recover from this, losing 40 plus aircraft in one day, including many that can’t be replaced.”
The cost-benefit ratio of Vald’s Big Adventure continues to shift heavily against Russia. In addition to having Finland and Sweden join NATO and having up to one million dead, Russia has now lost almost half it’s operational strategic bomber fleet.
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 1st, 2025 at 1:28 PM and is filed under Foreign Policy, Military. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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24 Responses to “Huge: Ukraine Destroys 40 Russian Bombers”
None of the aircraft or vessels destroyed are being used against Ukraine. Why weren’t the quite substantial resources used in these attacks applied against Votkinsk, Tula, or Ishevsk, where the Russians finish most of the really effective weapons they are using in Ukraine?
This was really an attack on the Trump peace process, not a serious effort to defeat Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Some weird ones hanging out in the comments today.
The heavy bombers destroyed in the raid were used against Ukraine previously. They were the missile trucks in the saturation ALCM attacks against Ukrainian military and civilian targets. This just bit deep into Russia’s ability to project power.
Are we defending against the same thing here in America?
Surprise! Immediately after Lindsey Graham and Danang Dick Blumenthol show up in Kiev. Not Istanbul where the negotiations are to take place. I’m sure it is just a coincidence.
“Putting tires on top of Russia aircraft doesn’t do much to protect them.”
Tires burn fiercely when ignited, which multiplies the comparatively small destructive charge carried by a commercial drone. Putting tires on the wings of your aircraft for protection against drones is like installing screen doors on your submarines to combat interior condensation.
“None of the aircraft or vessels destroyed are being used against Ukraine. Why weren’t the quite substantial resources used in these attacks applied against Votkinsk, Tula, or Ishevsk, where the Russians finish most of the really effective weapons they are using in Ukraine?”
You focus your attack against an enemy’s weakness, not his strength. These airbases are remotely located and presumably safe from drone attack, which is what makes this raid by a poorly armed and numerically inferior opponent so devastating.
Operation Spider’s Web will assuredly stand as one of the most successful spy operations ever executed.
Russians have smugly assumed that the vast geographical area they occupy makes them safe from enemy attack. Wasn’t this strategic depth what led to the defeat of Napoleon and Hitler, who marshalled vast and well-disciplned armies?
Alas. poor Ivan. His strategic depth has proved to be inadequate against the inconsequential army of Ukraine. Russia ‘s greatest strategic asset has been exposed as a Potempkin construct. The Great Bear’s lair has been laid bare.
“Why weren’t the quite substantial resources used in these attacks applied against Votkinsk, Tula, or Ishevsk, where the Russians finish most of the really effective weapons they are using in Ukraine?”
Put your mind at ease, comrade. These centers will be the object of Germany’s Taurus cruise missile. With twice the range of England’s Storm Shadow, these “really effective weapons” on Russian soil will be given a fair and equal opportunity to participate in the very next Ukranian Turkey Shoot.
Churchill himself would have endorsed attacking the “soft under-Belaya” of Russia’s Irkutsk Oblast.
The loss of as many as 10 TU 95s will critically hinder Moscow’s ability to target churches, shopping malls and bus stops with Kinzhal cruise missiles.
Ukrainska Pravda is showing two BDA photographs of VVS Belaya airbase in Irkutsk Oblast. Four Tu-22M3 bombers and three Tu-95MS bombers were destroyed and one Tu-95MS was probably damaged. No BDA from the other bases attacked has been published:
‘First satellite images of destroyed Russian aircraft at Belaya airbase appear online’ written by Yevheniia Hubina on 2 June 2025.
Russians say nothing was damaged at Dyagilevo, Ivanovo Severny, and Ukrainka air force bases and no BDA from those bases has been published. The Russians concede that the MRAD (Naval Reconnaissance Air Division) Olenegorsk base on the Kola Peninsula was struck, but no information on the struck aircraft has been published. VVS shares Olenegorsk with MRAD, so some of the planes struck there were probably naval reconnaissance and rescue aircraft.
The body of the Irkutsk drone truck driver was found next to his vehicle, strangled. It appears his SBU handler eliminated evidence. His body can be seen at the Russian Pravda post: ‘Truck Driver Linked to Drone Launches Found Strangled in Irkutsk Region’
Telegram is showing dash cam video of another attack truck driver outside Ukrainka base in the Far East investigating a fire in the wooden shed on his truck. The wooden shed explodes violently, killing him instantly. The Russian authorities appear to have arrested his SBU handler. None of those drones launched.
It appears that SBU once again used unsuspecting truck drivers as kamikazes, as they did in the October 2022 Kerch bridge attack which killed truck driver Makhir Yusubov.
What I found most interesting was the press acknowledged that the US has been running / directing the war up to this point; the US military has been in charge of the war for two years. That the Ukraine did not notify (ask permission of) the United States prior to this strike.
“It appears that SBU once again used unsuspecting truck drivers as kamikazes, as they did in the October 2022 Kerch bridge attack which killed truck driver Makhir Yusubov.”
But if the kamikaze truck drivers were to act on their supicions, how would the SBU trick them into blowing up Russian assets? And if the Ukrainians did not reveal their spy operation to the USA, why should they disclose it to a lowly Russian dupe?
Ukrainian outlet Oko Hora ✙ News and Analysis found damage, not destruction, to four Tu-95s bomber and one An-12 transport aircraft at MRAD Olenegorsk:
Telegram: oko_gora/15440
They tally the total damage inflicted by Operation Spiderweb on VVS and MRAD as:
Three Tu-95MS bombers destroyed
Five Tu-95MS bombers damaged
Four Tu-22M3 bombers destroyed
One An-12 transport aircraft (the Russian C-130 equivalent) damaged
The drone attacks on Dyagilevo, Ivanovo Severny, and Ukrainka had no effect. No Tu-160’s were damaged or destroyed. They have, exclusively, the revolving ALCM launchers and were stationed exclusively at VVS Dyagilevo in Ryazan Oblast. So VVS Kh-5X and Kh-10X cruise missile launching capabilities have not been affected.
“But if the kamikaze truck drivers were to act on their supicions, how would the SBU trick them into blowing up Russian assets? And if the Ukrainians did not reveal their spy operation to the USA, why should they disclose it to a lowly Russian dupe?”
The VVS Belaya (Irkutsk) drone truck driver was almost certainly strangled by your SBU hero before the drone launch to keep him from interfering. He probably had no idea what he was hauling. Truck drivers generally don’t load their trucks and are only responsible for securing their loads. They accept the manifest’s statement as to what they are hauling, unless there is an obvious discrepancy. Truck drivers are not encouraged to break into their loads, and are usually dismissed for doing so.
The VVS Ukrainka drone truck driver was alert and observant to the fire developing in the wooden shed he was hauling. Had he known that explosives were in the shed, he would not have been killed examining his load, he would have been running for his life. He had pulled his rig well off the road, which is the textbook recommended public safety practice for a dangerous load evolution.
You evidently share the depraved morals of your beloved Ukrainian Nazis. Killing innocent truck drivers is not war, it is depravity. I say this as a AXT CDL holder. The murder of Makhir Yusubov turned me against the Ukrainians.
@10x25mm Just exactly where do you think Ukraine got tactics like that from? From the exact same source and experience Russia did — the good old USSR. Only a daft twit would think that only the Ukrainians have done such things in this war. Do you know nothing of the Russian/Soviet/Russian way of war for centuries? And horror of horrors, the Ukrainians, part of the Russian and Soviet empires for centuries, do the same? GASP! 🙄
“@10x25mm Just exactly where do you think Ukraine got tactics like that from? From the exact same source and experience Russia did — the good old USSR. Only a daft twit would think that only the Ukrainians have done such things in this war. Do you know nothing of the Russian/Soviet/Russian way of war for centuries? And horror of horrors, the Ukrainians, part of the Russian and Soviet empires for centuries, do the same? GASP!”
The Red Army used trained dogs as suicide explosive carriers against German tanks (sobaki-istrebiteli tankovi) during WW II, but to the best of my knowledge they never used unaware, innocent human beings as mines. This is an especially odious level of depravity.
Several militaries, including the Germans and Vietnamese, booby trapped dead bodies decorated with attractive souvenirs, but this is a far different proposition.
Would welcome any documented instances of the Red Army or any other regular army using unaware human beings as kamikaze mines.
“How noble! Now do the many murders of Putin’s political enemies. Or are you one of those who chokes on gnats but swalloes whole Beluga whales?”
I will play tu quoque with you.
AI figures Russia has 400 or so political prisoners. Ukraine has many more. We had a lot more than both before President Trump pardoned the J6 protesters.
Putin occasionally kills his enemies. So do the Ukrainians (e.g. Gonzalo Ángel Quintilio Lira López) and their Azov thugs (52 Russian protesters burned alive in Odessa on May 2, 2014). So do we (e.g. Ashli Babbit, Rosanne Boyland on J6, Bryan Malinowski, Vicki Weaver, and hundreds of other victims of the jack booted thugs of BATFE and FBI).
But neither the Russians, nor us, have ever used unaware, innocent human beings as kamakaze mines. The Ukrainians have done so, repeatedly.
“But neither the Russians, nor us, have ever used unaware, innocent human beings as kamakaze mines.”
Stalin. greatly appreciated the Wermach”s “penal battalion” disposition and enthusiastically adopted the same measures for the Red Army:
“After their winter retreat under the pressure of the Red Army, when discipline was shaken in the German troops, the Germans took some severe measures to restore discipline, which led to good results. They formed more than 100 penal companies from fighters who were guilty of violating discipline through cowardice or instability, put them in dangerous sectors of the front and ordered them to atone for their sins with blood. They formed, further, about a dozen penal battalions from commanders who were guilty of violating discipline through cowardice or instability, deprived them of orders, placed them on even more dangerous sectors of the front and ordered them to atone for their sins. They formed, at last, special detachments of the barrier, placed them behind the unstable divisions and ordered them to shoot alarmists on the spot in case of an attempt to leave their positions without permission and in case of an attempt to surrender. As is known, these measures had their effect, and now the German troops are fighting better than they fought in the winter. And so it turns out that the German troops have good discipline, although they do not have the lofty goal of defending their homeland, but there is only one predatory goal – to conquer a foreign country, while our troops, having the lofty goal of defending their outraged Motherland, do not have such discipline and endure because of this defeat.”
And so Stalin, whose ethnicity was Georgian, must unquestionably qualify as being Russian, Issued Order #227, which made retreat a capital crime. Thereafter, “alarmists” were rounded up and pushed at gunpoint into the ranks of front -line German invaders.
The reason Russian losses were so high during the Great Patriotic War is that Stalin drove penal battalions to their mass deaths.
“Stalin. greatly appreciated the Wehrmacht’s “penal battalion” disposition and enthusiastically adopted the same measures for the Red Army:”
Penal battalions are not even remotely similar, ethically and morally, to using unaware, innocent human beings as kamikaze mines. By the way, even we used penal units in both WW II and Korea. Penal units have a ‘trial by fire’ aspect which appealed to cultures around the world in the middle of Century XX.
Stalin was Ossetian, which is related to Georgian. Both are entirely unrelated to Russians. Neither is even Slavic. Stalin hated Russians, which is why he was so cruel.
Stalin’s shtrafnoy batalyoni were for officers who demonstrated cowardice, not EMs. EMs just got shot by Commissars when they retreated. Commissars often wound up getting shot themselves, by their own troops and officers.
Reuters posted SAR BDA images obtained from Capella Space depicting VVS Belaya airfield:
‘Satellite imagery shows Ukraine attack destroyed and damaged Russian bombers’ written by Tom Balmforth and Milan Pavicic on June 3rd
Reuters’ analysts believe that two Tu-22M3 bombers and four Tu-95MS bombers were destroyed. This is two less Tu-22M3 bombers than reported by Ukrainska Pravda, and an assessment that the UP assessed damaged Tu-95MS bomber was actually destroyed.
Reuters for some reason did not get images of MRAD Olenegorsk or any of the other bases struck. No explanation was offered.
It is now believed that the Russians had decoys in multiple revetments at every base which was hit by the Ukrainians. This may explain the tardy BDA.
Latest update from Reuters, for all you “Ukrainian shills”:
‘Exclusive: Ukraine hit fewer Russian planes than it estimated, US officials say’
Written by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali on June 4, 2025
“The United States assesses that Ukraine’s drone attack over the weekend hit as many as 20 Russian warplanes, destroying around 10 of them, two U.S. officials told Reuters, a figure that is about half the number estimated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy……”
Still no BDA from VVS Dyagilevo, Ivanovo Severny, and Ukrainka bases.
[…] He notes the missile’s vulnerability to Russian fighter aircraft, but given how heavily those are overtaxed, I wonder how much they can “fly cap” over the vast distances of Russian airspace, especially after the further dispersion away from Ukraine following successful drone attacks on Russian airbases. […]
None of the aircraft or vessels destroyed are being used against Ukraine. Why weren’t the quite substantial resources used in these attacks applied against Votkinsk, Tula, or Ishevsk, where the Russians finish most of the really effective weapons they are using in Ukraine?
This was really an attack on the Trump peace process, not a serious effort to defeat Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
I question anything any military ever says. Zelensky and his people were taught how to lie by the Russians.
Some weird ones hanging out in the comments today.
The heavy bombers destroyed in the raid were used against Ukraine previously. They were the missile trucks in the saturation ALCM attacks against Ukrainian military and civilian targets. This just bit deep into Russia’s ability to project power.
Are we defending against the same thing here in America?
Surprise! Immediately after Lindsey Graham and Danang Dick Blumenthol show up in Kiev. Not Istanbul where the negotiations are to take place. I’m sure it is just a coincidence.
“Putting tires on top of Russia aircraft doesn’t do much to protect them.”
Tires burn fiercely when ignited, which multiplies the comparatively small destructive charge carried by a commercial drone. Putting tires on the wings of your aircraft for protection against drones is like installing screen doors on your submarines to combat interior condensation.
“None of the aircraft or vessels destroyed are being used against Ukraine. Why weren’t the quite substantial resources used in these attacks applied against Votkinsk, Tula, or Ishevsk, where the Russians finish most of the really effective weapons they are using in Ukraine?”
You focus your attack against an enemy’s weakness, not his strength. These airbases are remotely located and presumably safe from drone attack, which is what makes this raid by a poorly armed and numerically inferior opponent so devastating.
Operation Spider’s Web will assuredly stand as one of the most successful spy operations ever executed.
Russians have smugly assumed that the vast geographical area they occupy makes them safe from enemy attack. Wasn’t this strategic depth what led to the defeat of Napoleon and Hitler, who marshalled vast and well-disciplned armies?
Alas. poor Ivan. His strategic depth has proved to be inadequate against the inconsequential army of Ukraine. Russia ‘s greatest strategic asset has been exposed as a Potempkin construct. The Great Bear’s lair has been laid bare.
“Why weren’t the quite substantial resources used in these attacks applied against Votkinsk, Tula, or Ishevsk, where the Russians finish most of the really effective weapons they are using in Ukraine?”
Put your mind at ease, comrade. These centers will be the object of Germany’s Taurus cruise missile. With twice the range of England’s Storm Shadow, these “really effective weapons” on Russian soil will be given a fair and equal opportunity to participate in the very next Ukranian Turkey Shoot.
Churchill himself would have endorsed attacking the “soft under-Belaya” of Russia’s Irkutsk Oblast.
The loss of as many as 10 TU 95s will critically hinder Moscow’s ability to target churches, shopping malls and bus stops with Kinzhal cruise missiles.
Ukrainska Pravda is showing two BDA photographs of VVS Belaya airbase in Irkutsk Oblast. Four Tu-22M3 bombers and three Tu-95MS bombers were destroyed and one Tu-95MS was probably damaged. No BDA from the other bases attacked has been published:
‘First satellite images of destroyed Russian aircraft at Belaya airbase appear online’ written by Yevheniia Hubina on 2 June 2025.
Russians say nothing was damaged at Dyagilevo, Ivanovo Severny, and Ukrainka air force bases and no BDA from those bases has been published. The Russians concede that the MRAD (Naval Reconnaissance Air Division) Olenegorsk base on the Kola Peninsula was struck, but no information on the struck aircraft has been published. VVS shares Olenegorsk with MRAD, so some of the planes struck there were probably naval reconnaissance and rescue aircraft.
The body of the Irkutsk drone truck driver was found next to his vehicle, strangled. It appears his SBU handler eliminated evidence. His body can be seen at the Russian Pravda post: ‘Truck Driver Linked to Drone Launches Found Strangled in Irkutsk Region’
Telegram is showing dash cam video of another attack truck driver outside Ukrainka base in the Far East investigating a fire in the wooden shed on his truck. The wooden shed explodes violently, killing him instantly. The Russian authorities appear to have arrested his SBU handler. None of those drones launched.
It appears that SBU once again used unsuspecting truck drivers as kamikazes, as they did in the October 2022 Kerch bridge attack which killed truck driver Makhir Yusubov.
What I found most interesting was the press acknowledged that the US has been running / directing the war up to this point; the US military has been in charge of the war for two years. That the Ukraine did not notify (ask permission of) the United States prior to this strike.
“It appears that SBU once again used unsuspecting truck drivers as kamikazes, as they did in the October 2022 Kerch bridge attack which killed truck driver Makhir Yusubov.”
But if the kamikaze truck drivers were to act on their supicions, how would the SBU trick them into blowing up Russian assets? And if the Ukrainians did not reveal their spy operation to the USA, why should they disclose it to a lowly Russian dupe?
Ukrainian outlet Oko Hora ✙ News and Analysis found damage, not destruction, to four Tu-95s bomber and one An-12 transport aircraft at MRAD Olenegorsk:
Telegram: oko_gora/15440
They tally the total damage inflicted by Operation Spiderweb on VVS and MRAD as:
Three Tu-95MS bombers destroyed
Five Tu-95MS bombers damaged
Four Tu-22M3 bombers destroyed
One An-12 transport aircraft (the Russian C-130 equivalent) damaged
The drone attacks on Dyagilevo, Ivanovo Severny, and Ukrainka had no effect. No Tu-160’s were damaged or destroyed. They have, exclusively, the revolving ALCM launchers and were stationed exclusively at VVS Dyagilevo in Ryazan Oblast. So VVS Kh-5X and Kh-10X cruise missile launching capabilities have not been affected.
“But if the kamikaze truck drivers were to act on their supicions, how would the SBU trick them into blowing up Russian assets? And if the Ukrainians did not reveal their spy operation to the USA, why should they disclose it to a lowly Russian dupe?”
The VVS Belaya (Irkutsk) drone truck driver was almost certainly strangled by your SBU hero before the drone launch to keep him from interfering. He probably had no idea what he was hauling. Truck drivers generally don’t load their trucks and are only responsible for securing their loads. They accept the manifest’s statement as to what they are hauling, unless there is an obvious discrepancy. Truck drivers are not encouraged to break into their loads, and are usually dismissed for doing so.
The VVS Ukrainka drone truck driver was alert and observant to the fire developing in the wooden shed he was hauling. Had he known that explosives were in the shed, he would not have been killed examining his load, he would have been running for his life. He had pulled his rig well off the road, which is the textbook recommended public safety practice for a dangerous load evolution.
You evidently share the depraved morals of your beloved Ukrainian Nazis. Killing innocent truck drivers is not war, it is depravity. I say this as a AXT CDL holder. The murder of Makhir Yusubov turned me against the Ukrainians.
@10x25mm Just exactly where do you think Ukraine got tactics like that from? From the exact same source and experience Russia did — the good old USSR. Only a daft twit would think that only the Ukrainians have done such things in this war. Do you know nothing of the Russian/Soviet/Russian way of war for centuries? And horror of horrors, the Ukrainians, part of the Russian and Soviet empires for centuries, do the same? GASP! 🙄
“@10x25mm Just exactly where do you think Ukraine got tactics like that from? From the exact same source and experience Russia did — the good old USSR. Only a daft twit would think that only the Ukrainians have done such things in this war. Do you know nothing of the Russian/Soviet/Russian way of war for centuries? And horror of horrors, the Ukrainians, part of the Russian and Soviet empires for centuries, do the same? GASP!”
The Red Army used trained dogs as suicide explosive carriers against German tanks (sobaki-istrebiteli tankovi) during WW II, but to the best of my knowledge they never used unaware, innocent human beings as mines. This is an especially odious level of depravity.
Several militaries, including the Germans and Vietnamese, booby trapped dead bodies decorated with attractive souvenirs, but this is a far different proposition.
Would welcome any documented instances of the Red Army or any other regular army using unaware human beings as kamikaze mines.
“The murder of Makhir Yusubov turned me against the Ukrainians.”
How noble! Now do the many murders of Putin’s political enemies. Or are you one of those who chokes on gnats but swalloes whole Beluga whales?
“How noble! Now do the many murders of Putin’s political enemies. Or are you one of those who chokes on gnats but swalloes whole Beluga whales?”
I will play tu quoque with you.
AI figures Russia has 400 or so political prisoners. Ukraine has many more. We had a lot more than both before President Trump pardoned the J6 protesters.
Putin occasionally kills his enemies. So do the Ukrainians (e.g. Gonzalo Ángel Quintilio Lira López) and their Azov thugs (52 Russian protesters burned alive in Odessa on May 2, 2014). So do we (e.g. Ashli Babbit, Rosanne Boyland on J6, Bryan Malinowski, Vicki Weaver, and hundreds of other victims of the jack booted thugs of BATFE and FBI).
But neither the Russians, nor us, have ever used unaware, innocent human beings as kamakaze mines. The Ukrainians have done so, repeatedly.
“But neither the Russians, nor us, have ever used unaware, innocent human beings as kamakaze mines.”
Stalin. greatly appreciated the Wermach”s “penal battalion” disposition and enthusiastically adopted the same measures for the Red Army:
“After their winter retreat under the pressure of the Red Army, when discipline was shaken in the German troops, the Germans took some severe measures to restore discipline, which led to good results. They formed more than 100 penal companies from fighters who were guilty of violating discipline through cowardice or instability, put them in dangerous sectors of the front and ordered them to atone for their sins with blood. They formed, further, about a dozen penal battalions from commanders who were guilty of violating discipline through cowardice or instability, deprived them of orders, placed them on even more dangerous sectors of the front and ordered them to atone for their sins. They formed, at last, special detachments of the barrier, placed them behind the unstable divisions and ordered them to shoot alarmists on the spot in case of an attempt to leave their positions without permission and in case of an attempt to surrender. As is known, these measures had their effect, and now the German troops are fighting better than they fought in the winter. And so it turns out that the German troops have good discipline, although they do not have the lofty goal of defending their homeland, but there is only one predatory goal – to conquer a foreign country, while our troops, having the lofty goal of defending their outraged Motherland, do not have such discipline and endure because of this defeat.”
And so Stalin, whose ethnicity was Georgian, must unquestionably qualify as being Russian, Issued Order #227, which made retreat a capital crime. Thereafter, “alarmists” were rounded up and pushed at gunpoint into the ranks of front -line German invaders.
The reason Russian losses were so high during the Great Patriotic War is that Stalin drove penal battalions to their mass deaths.
Tu toque, indeed,.
“Stalin. greatly appreciated the Wehrmacht’s “penal battalion” disposition and enthusiastically adopted the same measures for the Red Army:”
Penal battalions are not even remotely similar, ethically and morally, to using unaware, innocent human beings as kamikaze mines. By the way, even we used penal units in both WW II and Korea. Penal units have a ‘trial by fire’ aspect which appealed to cultures around the world in the middle of Century XX.
Stalin was Ossetian, which is related to Georgian. Both are entirely unrelated to Russians. Neither is even Slavic. Stalin hated Russians, which is why he was so cruel.
Stalin’s shtrafnoy batalyoni were for officers who demonstrated cowardice, not EMs. EMs just got shot by Commissars when they retreated. Commissars often wound up getting shot themselves, by their own troops and officers.
Reuters posted SAR BDA images obtained from Capella Space depicting VVS Belaya airfield:
‘Satellite imagery shows Ukraine attack destroyed and damaged Russian bombers’ written by Tom Balmforth and Milan Pavicic on June 3rd
Reuters’ analysts believe that two Tu-22M3 bombers and four Tu-95MS bombers were destroyed. This is two less Tu-22M3 bombers than reported by Ukrainska Pravda, and an assessment that the UP assessed damaged Tu-95MS bomber was actually destroyed.
Reuters for some reason did not get images of MRAD Olenegorsk or any of the other bases struck. No explanation was offered.
It is now believed that the Russians had decoys in multiple revetments at every base which was hit by the Ukrainians. This may explain the tardy BDA.
Latest update from Reuters, for all you “Ukrainian shills”:
‘Exclusive: Ukraine hit fewer Russian planes than it estimated, US officials say’
Written by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali on June 4, 2025
“The United States assesses that Ukraine’s drone attack over the weekend hit as many as 20 Russian warplanes, destroying around 10 of them, two U.S. officials told Reuters, a figure that is about half the number estimated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy……”
Still no BDA from VVS Dyagilevo, Ivanovo Severny, and Ukrainka bases.
[…] lot of news out of Ukrainian in the last week+ besides the bomber strikes and the Kerch Strait Bridge […]
[…] He notes the missile’s vulnerability to Russian fighter aircraft, but given how heavily those are overtaxed, I wonder how much they can “fly cap” over the vast distances of Russian airspace, especially after the further dispersion away from Ukraine following successful drone attacks on Russian airbases. […]